10th Street Bridge
Monument to traffic in Saint Cloud
The 1890 bridge over the Mississippi from Munsinger Gardens
Before and during destruction of the Works Progress Administration 1935 embankments
New 10th Street Bridge, also from Munsinger Gardens
Before I post some more garden photos, I’d like to show readers some revealing history about my home town of Saint Cloud, Minnesota.
For over ninety years, a fine, sturdy bridge spanned the Mississippi River from the area near the state university over to the southeast part of town. I grew up in a house near the bridge and right across the street from what is now the Clemens Gardens. The Munsinger Gardens are just down a hill and along the river bank. The old bridge was destroyed and replaced by a monstrous structure. The new bridge was finished in 1985.
Of course, there were compelling reasons of traffic engineering for doing this. The old bridge did suffer damage and closures quite frequently. It was not intended to carry the traffic load that it did. But no creative solution other than making a traffic monster was ever considered.
Indeed, the new bridge is a race course. We were just up there, crossing it while dozens of gas guzzlers sped by at 40 or 50 mph. The pace of the old bridge never was like that. The new bridge is more like the whole of Saint Cloud–an arm pit of fast food and fast cars rarely slowing down to see the flowers.
Some of the WPA stonework still exists along Riverside Drive. There is another WPA 1935 cornerstone about six blocks up stream. But the destruction of the historic bridge and embankments is a blemish on the total experience of peace and quiet that the gardens should offer. The ugly, ultra-growth mindset prevalent in Saint Cloud has made that impossible.
August 22nd, 2006 at 20:37
Wow, do those photos bring back memories. I don’t get to St. Cloud much these days but the new bridge never had the same small-town feel that the old one had. I have to admit that when I was a high schooler driving across the old bridge on a Friday night crossing the Mississippi was a bit nerve wracking. But you are right that something short of this megalopulous would have been a better way to go. The people voted twice for a smaller bridge but their votes were overturned by the Mayor and braintrust in the city.
I remember the old dam too. It had that nineteenth century feel to it that is lost now.
The loss of the WPA stone walls would be especially sad. There were no walls like that on the West side of the city. But on the East side the walls and gardens set a tone as you drove around. When that’s gone what’s left?